The Mercy Seat

Description

The self-titled, sole album by the American alternative rock band The Mercy Seat featuring Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes fame, was released on Slash Records in 1987. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed by Warren Bruleigh at Secret Sound in New York; with the band co-producing.

Along with his band, The Mercy Seat, (former?) Violent Femmes leader Gordon Gano takes a busman’s holiday to Rev. Al Green‘s Full Gospel Tabernacle. Irrespective of the Femmes’ future, ‘The Mercy Seat’ deserves consideration.

Gano could be considered nominal leader of this exciting quartet, but the group’s sound is really built around the smoldering lead vocals of the exotic Zena Von Heppinstall. Her husky alto is prominently featured on all 10 tracks, and she wrote or co-wrote four of the songs, three of which are on a par with the gospel standards that fill out the record. The album opener, «Let Me Ride», sets the tone for the session. Rumbling drums kick it off, and are soon joined by a galloping bass and some swampy lead. Von Heppinstall and Gano engage in the playful call and response style indicative of traditional black gospel. Snapping fingers and a loping bass run usher in «Soul On Right», one of Von Heppinstall’s top-notch originals. For a change of pace, listen to «Don’t Forget About Me», with its folky guitar and harmony vocal intro, or Von Heppinstall’s «He Said», a slow blues churner with a bass line borrowed from Muddy Waters, and a stinging solo by Gano.

Von Heppinstall’s contemporary sense of humor infuses «Get Up» with lines such as “I don’t want to be watchin’ Dynasty when the world comes tumblin’ down.” Other delights include the back-to-back songs «I’ve Got a Feeling» and a medley of «Let the Church Roll On/ I Won’t Be Back». The double-time beat of these tracks is indicative of the punkish nature of Gano’s Femmes days. Imagine The Ramones in church with Rev. James Cleveland – you’ll be breathless in no time!

The Mercy Seat has toured on a limited basis, and were reportedly not much appreciated by Femmes fans. Regardless of the expectations of Gano’s fans, this is a fine debut by any standards. [Bruce A. Brown, CCM, November 1987]

On the face of it, this is a punk band fronted by Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano doing covers of traditional gospel songs – and it would be easy to write this album off as being such. The initial surprise of hearing «Let Me Ride» with a fast punk two-beat behind it can be jarring, not to mention the seemingly incompatible couplings of Von Hepinstall’s husky alto voice and Gano’s whiny, nasally voice in a call-and-response gospel rave-up. But given a listen for the group as it is and not a Gordon Gano side project – and hearing these songs as songs in their own right and not gospel covers – this is an excellent record. Truly, the whole band is amazing and shines with virtuosity. Bassist Patrice Moran features very prominently here, and her lines really help to preserve the gospel tone of the record. Gano and drummer Fernando Menendez push the music much more into the Dead Kennedys or Butthole Surfers end of the spectrum. Singer/bombshell Zena Von Heppinstall is the major creative force here, penning four of the songs and carrying the music with her fabulous voice. Highlights are «Don’t Forget About Me», the bluesy «He Said», and the «Let the Church Roll On/ I Won’t Be Back» medley. The final cut on the record is a surprising Spanish-sounding number called «Mother Talking», which sounds more like a Violent Femmes (3 era) tune than anything else here. [Mark Allender, AMG]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-mercy-seat/322076660)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “Let Me Ride” – 2:26
A2. “Soul On Right (Jesus Laid His Hands On Me)” – 2:50
A3. “Don’t Forget About Me” – 2:37
A4. “I Don’t Need Nobody Else (But Jesus)” – 2:05
A5. “He Said” – 5:07

Side Two
B1. “Get Up (When The World Comes Tumbling Down)” – 2:22
B2. “I Am A Pilgrim” – 2:33
B3. “I’ve Got A Feeling” – 2:33
B4. “Let The Church Roll On / I Won’t Be Back” – 4:05
B5. “Mother Talking” – 6:25

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Slash Records. Re-issued on CD by Wounded Bird Records ‎in 2009.

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“Let Me Ride” (MUSIC VIDEO)